Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Oscar Caught Whacking Off
Most of the major awards at the 1984 Oscars seemed to be a battle between "Amadeus" and "The Killing Fields." For the record, "Amadeus" was up for 11 statues to 7 nods for "Fields."
I'm not a fan of classical music by any stretch of the imagination, but I do vaguely remember enjoying "Amadeus" at least a little bit the one time I watched it about 20 years ago, which is more than I can say for "The Killing Fields." A few years back, a buddy of mine at work had it on tape, and insisted I watched it. He couldn't believe I had never seen it and assured me that I would be blown away. Well, it blew all right. I couldn't stand it, so I guess I'm O.K. with "Amadeus" winning Best Picture over it.
A classic film came out that year, however, that wasn't even nominated. I think it should have been, though: "The Karate Kid." It was certainly a better picture than "Amadeus." Pat Morita was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but didn't win, which is an unforgivable crime (Haing S. Ngor won for "The Killing Fields.")
Other Oscar snubs: I know the Academy VERY rarely likes to award comedy, but Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop" deserves some kind of recognition. One of the finest comedic performances of all time. Side note: the screenplay for "Cop" was nominated, but lost out to "Places In The Heart." While I'm on the subject, comedy is one thing the Oscars routinely screw up. It's much harder to make people laugh than cry, yet sentimental, by-the-numbers tearjerkers are given awards year after year while comedies are ignored. The Academy Awards should steal a page from the Golden Globes and have separate categories for Drama and Comedy. It's an idea that's way past due. After all, a few years back they established a new category for animated films, so why not do the same for comedy? Meanwhile, we'll laugh at the Oscars next time when we look at 1985.
I'm not a fan of classical music by any stretch of the imagination, but I do vaguely remember enjoying "Amadeus" at least a little bit the one time I watched it about 20 years ago, which is more than I can say for "The Killing Fields." A few years back, a buddy of mine at work had it on tape, and insisted I watched it. He couldn't believe I had never seen it and assured me that I would be blown away. Well, it blew all right. I couldn't stand it, so I guess I'm O.K. with "Amadeus" winning Best Picture over it.
A classic film came out that year, however, that wasn't even nominated. I think it should have been, though: "The Karate Kid." It was certainly a better picture than "Amadeus." Pat Morita was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but didn't win, which is an unforgivable crime (Haing S. Ngor won for "The Killing Fields.")
Other Oscar snubs: I know the Academy VERY rarely likes to award comedy, but Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop" deserves some kind of recognition. One of the finest comedic performances of all time. Side note: the screenplay for "Cop" was nominated, but lost out to "Places In The Heart." While I'm on the subject, comedy is one thing the Oscars routinely screw up. It's much harder to make people laugh than cry, yet sentimental, by-the-numbers tearjerkers are given awards year after year while comedies are ignored. The Academy Awards should steal a page from the Golden Globes and have separate categories for Drama and Comedy. It's an idea that's way past due. After all, a few years back they established a new category for animated films, so why not do the same for comedy? Meanwhile, we'll laugh at the Oscars next time when we look at 1985.
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Amadeus is probably one of the few winners that I really like a lot. I never cared much for the Karate Kid. My favorite films of 1984 are probably Ghostbusters, Nightmare on Elm street and the Terminator. Not exactly Oscar material I am afraid.
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